Monthly Archives: January 2016
NOAA scientists admit in private that they can’t name any place affected by ocean acidification
There’s the truth, then there’s the whole truth. From a climate expert at NOAA, the study of ocean acidification is so young “they don’t have any data sets that show a direct effect of OA on population health” and they can’t name any place in the world that is definitely affected by it. at Junkscience.com FOIA’d emails among NOAA scientists discussing a NY times op-ed draft. The editor was serving up an apocalypse: Our Deadened, Carbon-Soaked Seas by Richard W. Spinrad and Ian Boyd, …and he wanted all the dirt: Can the authors give us more specific, descriptive images about how acidification has already affected the oceans? Read the post here 12:57
WATCH: Norwegian fishermen rescued after boat capsizes in icy waters
Five fishermen are lucky to be alive following a dramatic rescue from the icy waters off Norway’s coast Monday. Norway’s 330 Rescue Squadron captured The Norwegian Veritas dip below the surface moments after plucking its crewmembers out of the choppy Norwegian Sea. The rescue happened off the coast of Lofotodden, Norway, which sits above the Arctic Circle. All five fishermen had been tossed into the water prior to the coast guard’s Sea King helicopter arriving. Video, read the rest here 11:14
Tobique First Nation fishery mired in court battles, band council split
The future of the Tobique First Nation’s commercial fishery is up in the air after the latest courtroom battle between the band and the companies running its commercial fishery. Last week, a Court of Queen’s Bench judge quashed a last-minute attempt by Yarmouth Sea Products to continue fishing the band’s licence as a subcontractor to a U.S. firm. “We’re not very pleased, obviously,” said Gerard Doucet, the company’s general manager. The Yarmouth company was hired by Rhode Island-based Maritime Specialty Foods Inc. to fish for scallops and lobster on Tobique’s commercial licence. Read the article here 11:02
Bertie Armstrong: Fish key in sustainable food future
Recently I attended a conference hosted by the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House focused on securing a sustainable food future for our growing global population.,, What immediately struck me about the conference was that its principal focus was on agriculture, with little mention of the vitally important role fishing plays in securing a sustainable supply of food for an expanding world population. Read the article here 09:12
EPA approves “vertebrate pheromone biopesticide” to battle dreaded Great Lakes Sea Lamprey
After decades of development and testing, an effort to use pheromones to fool the sex drive of lampreys in the Great Lakes has been deemed “good enough” to be registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA last week registered the pheromone, 3kPZS, as the first “vertebrate pheromone biopesticide” authorized for use in U.S. waters. While it’s worked in test efforts, it’s now hoped that the pheromone, when poured into rivers, will attract adult lampreys on a large scale to a specific spot where they can be captured and destroyed before,,, Read the article here 08:00
Bluefin Tuna Sells for $117,000 at Tokyo Auction
The owner of a chain of sushi restaurants paid ¥14 million ($117,000) for a 200-kilogram bluefin tuna at the first auction of the year at Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market Tuesday. Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co., has won the year’s first bid for the fifth consecutive year. He told reporters the tuna “is in great form and should taste splendid.” The tuna was caught off Oma, Aomori prefecture, in northern Japan. Read the article here 23:17
20 years after gill net ban, poaching persists along west coast
It was just after midnight Monday when two commercial fisherman saw the blue lights of law enforcement and made a break for it near the mouth of the Manatee River. The water chase was brief, wildlife officers say, because in the end the fisherman got tangled up in their own illegal net. It’s been 20 years since Florida voters, 72 percent of the vote, approved a constitutional amendment banning the use of gill nets within nine miles of Florida’s Gulf Coast and three miles of the Atlantic Coast. The ban was hotly contested and ultimately put out of business about 1,500 commercial fishermen whose livelihood depended on the practice. Read the article here 20:34
Coast Guard cutter tows disabled New Bedford fishing boat
Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England’s command center received notification at approximately 7 a.m. Sunday from the F/V Megan Marie’s captain reporting the vessel, with six people aboard, was disabled due to a lost rudder. The good Samaritan fishing vessel F/V Jason and Danielle, the disabled vessel’s sister ship, respond Sunday at about 2:30 p.m. and took Megan Marie into tow. However, as the winds increased to 20-30 knots and the seas built to ten feet, the good Samaritan’s tow line parted and Megan Marie’s owner requested the Coast Guard take over the tow. Read the article here 17:27
Video footage of shark strapped to car in Perth goes viral
The Road Warrior!
A Perth motorist has been filmed driving with a shark strapped to the front of their 4WD in Safety Bay near Rockingham, with the video proving a hit on social media. Julie Wright and her son captured a video of the shark on Monday afternoon while driving on Safety Bay Road heading towards Kwinana Freeway. Ms Wright said she “had to look twice” when she saw the vehicle travelling along the road towing a boat with the animal attached to its bulbar. Video, and read the article here 16:56
Paul Davis raising questions about sale of Quin-Sea Fisheries and CETA
Opposition Leader Paul Davis is raising questions about the pending sale of one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s largest seafood companies to a firm wholly. It was revealed last month that a company called Royal Greenland has reached an agreement to purchase Quin-Sea Fisheries Ltd. In a news release issued on New Year’s Eve, PC leader and former premier Paul Davis said he has written the licensing board, urging it to consider a number of questions, including the possibility that a foreign company may gain control of Canadian seafood quotas. Read the article here 16:35
Adding Insult to Injury of a Late Start, Coast Guard keeps watch over crab fleet
Wildlife officers got a bird’s eye view of the commercial Dungeness crab fishery opening, courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard. The C-130 Hercules motored north along the Washington state coastline in the wee hours of a frigid New Year’s Day. The plane turned off all but its navigation lights to be stealthier. “It looks like the gear is all on board,” she says, marking another vessel, stacked high with crab pots, as non-suspicious before quickly moving onto the next. Read the article here 16:08‘I love it’: More women making a living on the water off Shelburne
Emily Swim is one of a growing number of women in Shelburne County who head out to sea in a lobster boat to work. As a child and then teenager she remembers seeing her dad head off each day, but never believed it would one day be herself waking up in the wee hours of the morning to fish. This is now her fourth year fishing with her father and brother and – while the work can be labourious, the days long and the weather vicious – she brings back to the wharf a collection of happy memories and discoveries. Read the article here 13:42
Gulf of Maine lobster stock at an all-time high
A recent lobster stock assessment shows the population of the state’s famous bottom-dwelling crustacean at record highs in the Gulf of Maine. Through data collected by fishery-dependent and fishery-independent sources, the stock assessment gives fishermen and scientists a picture of the condition of the economically important stock. According to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the 2015 benchmark stock assessment for lobsters shows the stock of crustaceans in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank is not depleted and overfishing is not occurring. However, the situation for the stock in southern New England is far less clear,,, Read the article here 12:52
Jolly moves to eliminate guesswork from fishing regulations with third party data collection
“It’s all about the numbers,” said Jolly, a Dunedin native who has taken a particular interest in fisheries issues. “Without good data, you can’t make good decisions.” Jolly, a Republican, represents Florida’s 13th Congressional District which covers most of Pinellas County. First elected in March 2014, Jolly quickly recognized the importance of both commercial and recreational fishing to the region’s economy. His plan for a third-party data collection system for sn was included in the recent budget deal signed by President Barack Obama. Read the article here 12:15
‘Wicked Tuna’ Exclusive Clip: It’s A New Day & Everyone’s Looking For The First Catch
“Wicked Tuna’s” fifth season will pick up with some captains still struggling after the rough winter season captured in spinoff series “Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks.” This season, newcomer Captain Pete Speeches of the Erin & Sarah leaves his home port in Maine to fish in Gloucester waters. Speeches is a skilled fisherman with decades of experience, and his arrival makes the local captains nervous. Speeches fishes with his oldest daughter, Erin, a recent college graduate who is embarking on her first season of commercial fishing. Video, Read the article here 11:15
Mustang Survival Recall Advisory Notice for MD315x/MD318x Model Inflatable PFD’s
If you have purchased any of the models of inflatable PFDs listed below from September 2014 onwards, please click the corresponding link below for important recall information. Canada: MD3153, MD3154 or MD3157: English Advisory Notice & FAQs | French Advisory Notice & FAQs – USA: MD3183, MD3184 or MD3188: US Advisory Notice & FAQs – Please note: Not all versions of the models listed above are affected by this recall advisory notice. Please ensure to read the advisory notice and follow the steps outlined in order to identify if your version is affected. Read the notice here 08:04
Irish fishermen are getting another raw deal
Ireland has 23% of European waters and the richest fishing waters in the European union, yet we are allowed a mere 4% of white-fish quotas. Irish fishermen are tied up for lack of quotas and have no other means of making a living, except fishing, and yet they pay their taxes. It is estimated that pelagic vessels hold 86% of the mackerel quotas and land at Castletownbere, in West Cork, for shipment to the continent. The proposed expansion of this area is to facilitate foreign vessels and not Irish fishermen, because they have no quotas to fish their own grounds. It is a bad deal. Link Irish Examiner 12:48
Our View: New England Fishery Management Council needs to take a new tack
A New Hampshire cod fisherman has sued the National Oceanic and Atmospheric and Administration over the hardship looming when he is required to pay for at-sea monitors. Monitors are required on a certain percentage of fishing vessels to satisfy regulations meant to reduce waste of the resource at sea and protect the fishery. David Goethel’s suit is appropriate mainly because he puts his boat into a fishery that was declared a disaster in 2012 by the Commerce Department, NOAA’s parent. Fish biomass for several species, including cod and some flounders, has rapidly eroded the opportunity for success for groundfishermen like him. Read the op-ed here 11:10
Militia members have occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge building
A group of militiamen on Saturday occupied the headquarters of a national wildlife refuge in Oregon in support of two brothers who are slated to report to prison on Monday on arson charges, the Oregonian newspaper reported. “We’re planning on staying here for years, absolutely,” Ammon Bundy, one of the occupiers, told the newspaper via telephone. Militia members at the refuge claimed to have as many as 150 supporters with them. The Malheur National Wildlife refuge building, federal property managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was closed for the holiday weekend. Read the article here 09:38
A date with Tsukiji fish market’s bluefin tuna auction
To sleep or not to sleep? This was the question I was considering the night before a 3 a.m. rendezvous for a guided tour of Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market, the highlight of which was viewing the famous bluefin tuna auction. Considering the late hours I keep, it was really a no-brainer: sleep could wait. But what I later learned is that failing to wake up would have meant missing the final tuna auction open to visitors in 2015, and thus the main point of my first trip to the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world. Read the article here 08:57
Commercial Fishing Boat Runs Aground Near China Camp In Marin County
Two boaters in distress were able to safely walk to shore after a 30-foot commercial vessel lost power in the North Bay and ran aground Saturday at China Camp State Park near San Rafael, according to United States Coast Guard officials. The Coast Guard got a phone call from a commercial fishing vessel that had run aground at China Camp around 8:34 a.m. They dispatched a 45-foot surf rescue boat and a helicopter, according to Lt. Cmdr. Jon Lane. Read the article here 08:05
Katherine the great white shark swimming off Grand Banks
A great white shark named Katherine spent most of the holiday season swimming near the Grand Banks off the south coast of Newfoundland. Marine research group Ocearch has been monitoring the shark’s location since August of 2013 with the help of a dorsal fin tracking device. The group says Katherine weighs more than 2,300 pounds and spans 14 feet in length. This is the second time the group has tracked a great white shark near Newfoundland. Read the article here 19:26
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge biologists hope commercial fishing will end carp invasion
Say what you will about the invasive common carp in Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. They’re ugly. Unappetizing. A bane on the Eastern Oregon ecosystem. But don’t say they’re not resilient. Managers at the migratory bird sanctuary south of Burns have tried dynamite. They’ve tried poison. They’ve tried suffocating the fish by draining water from lakes and ponds. They’ve put screens across waterways to keep the carp from finding new territory. Read the article here 13:56
USCG Assists Fish and Wildlife Departments Patrol Crab Opening
The Coast Guard assisted representatives of the Washington and Oregon Departments of Fish and Wildlife patrol the waters of the Pacific Northwest during the pre-soak period of the commercial Dungeness Crab season, which opens Jan. 4, 2015. The Dungeness Crab Season begins Monday from the California/Oregon border north to Destruction Island, Washington including Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor. The Northern Washington to U.S./Canada border Dungeness Crab season will begin at a date to be announced later, but no sooner than January 15. Read the article here 09:35
This nonsense is why the price of Flounder will go up
image:yeticoolers.com
When government appointees with a narrow agenda get power, watch out. That is exactly what has happened with the Marine Fisheries Commission and its control by the radical environmentalists of the CCA. They pass totally unjustified regulations that will reduce the supply of flounder and thus raise the price to those of us who like to eat it in restaurants or prepared at home. It is the seafood consumer who is the ultimate victim of the radical CCA. Of course, the commercial fishermen are hit even harder because they lose their livlihood to these extremists. Read the op-ed here 08:54
Fatal Gloucester rescue could change policies
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As dusk settled Dec. 3 on stormy seas 18 miles off Cape Ann, the crew of the Orin C felt a wave of relief. The Coast Guard had just arrived to tow them home to Gloucester, where they could unload 10,000 pounds of slime eel and repair their overheated engine. But three hours later, the relatively routine tow took a tragic turn. The 51-foot Orin C rapidly succumbed to 12-foot seas, leaving three men bobbing in the dark, 49-degree waters amid a blizzard of heavy debris. Crewmen Rick Palmer and Travis Lane swam to safety, but the Coast Guard later said Captain David “Heavy D” Sutherland could not be revived after a rescue swimmer reached him. Read the article here 22:28
U.S. tuna fishing fleet to be shut out of vast area of Pacific Ocean in fee dispute
The U.S. tuna fishing fleet, which helps feed San Diego’s storied tuna industry, is fighting for business survival thousands of miles from home. By New Year’s Day, the entire fleet of 37 boats will effectively be cut out of a vast area of the Pacific Ocean — source of 60% of the nation’s canned tuna — because of a high-stakes dispute over how much they will pay to fish there. Stateside companies, including several with ties to Southern California, say the conflict will not just hurt or destroy businesses, but also raise sustainability concerns for American consumers. Read the article here 12:52
How sharks owned the Internet in 2015
In 2015, it was the shark that became the apex predator of the Internet. A combination of tiny POV cameras and ginormous sharks mean that we have been able to get up close and personal with these prehistoric beasts for the first time. When footage emerged from Mexico’s Guadalupe Island of a female shark named Deep Blue, who measured 20-plus feet with the girth of a small elephant, the internet sizzled. In November, Vince McKaney a 35-year commercial fishing veteran, encountered what he believed was a 4000 pound great white. “What it was, it was massive. I could have jumped in his mouth,” he said. “He would have ate me like an aspirin.” Video, read the article here 11:50TJ’s Seafood Market in Dallas Provides Unlikely Safe Haven for Orphaned Lobster
Generally, when lobsters leave the counter at TJ’s Seafood, they’re destined for a large pot of boiling water and plenty of drawn butter. One anonymous seafood enthusiast, though, decided that they couldn’t go through with the ritualistic steaming of Snappy, a lobster that had been purchased from TJ’s just hours earlier. Yesterday, employees at the TJ’s Seafood location at Preston and Royal found a small styrofoam cooler outside the restaurant’s back door. Attached to the cooler was a note that read “Please take Snappy the lobster in. I can’t kill him.” Read the rest here! 10:23
